Long Way Home
by giverofgrace
Summary: Part 3 of 'Life Lived' Series. They are on a plane bound for Slovenia,and now they must find a way home. Full summary inside so as to not give away anything from 'Death Cuts Sharper Than Knives' or 'Caught in the Act'.
1. Prologue

**Long Way Home**

_**Summary:**__ (Recap) Alex and Ben have finally made it home-almost. They made it as far as the airport in England, but were unable to get out of it due to the terrorist group blocking the exits. After being forced to board a random plane in order to not be captured, Alex, Ben and the four Australian SAS guys find themselves on their way to Slovenia. And due to a mole inside of MI6, they can't just call up MI6 and ask to be picked up or anything. _

_**Now they must find a way to get back to England by crossing through the countries, and possibly with a little outside help. But what happens when they are split up by an old enemy? Will one of them finally meet their end? Or is all not as it seems? A/N: And if I were you, I'd feel bad for Alex, because it seems that the entire world has now learned that he is still alive and has decided to take revenge.**_

Prologue:

A knock sounded on the door. The man felt a flash of annoyance before calling out 'Come in' in an emotionless voice.

The door opened slowly, and a timid head poked itself in, "Sir?"

"Yes, come in. What is it?" The man at the desk invited. But not pleasantly.

"Well, sir, there have been some reports-"

"Just tell me what they say."

"Well, um, apparently-"

"Just spit it out already! I haven't got all day!" The man at the desk practically shouted. Or as close to shouting as any assassin gets.

"Alex Rider has-"

"Rider? But he's dead. Scorpia killed him off a couple of years ago."

"Well, I guess he wasn't as dead as they thought. It appears he faked his own death and has been living under a different identity ever since."

"And MI6?"

"If our sources are correct, yes, they know he's alive. They've known all along. If it wasn't for the fact that Scorpia was destroyed in his supposed death, I would've said that MI6 planned it. They've known all along."

"I see. And where might Rider be residing as of now?"

"Sorry. I don't know where his residence is. I don't think that anyone knows."

"What a shame. I see that you will be unable to help me out after all. And there's not much use in someone without usefulness."

Recognizing what the assassin was implying, the man's eyes widened in fright and he started pleading for his life. But his protests died on his lips as he fell to the ground, lifeless with a bullet hole neatly through his forehead.

The assassin calmly called two guards to come and clean up the mess. After all, the blood would stain if left in the carpet long enough.

After the clean-up job was completed, he picked up his phone and ordered two men to his office. When they had assembled, he gave them each a photograph and began to speak.

"That boy, the one in the picture, is your target. His name is Alex Rider. I want you to find him and bring him to me-alive. He will most likely be in disguise as he faked his death a couple of years back and has been living under a new identity. I do not know whom he was posing to be. Any information you find will be relayed back to me. Try to find someone who had close connections with Rider. I would like to know how this mission is going, but you two are in charge. You will, of course, be paid, but the matter of how much depends on what condition Rider is in and how long you take to complete this task."

The assassin turned away from the two men and they immediately recognized the dismissal. They left without a word. The assassin smiled as he watched the sun rise above the horizon, "Soon, Rider. Soon."


	2. A Peek into the World

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait…basically me just procrastinating. Well, not exactly. I've been pretty busy with school and all (being in all honors courses comes at a price). And I have spring break this week….but I'm going away, so that means no updates for you guys. Sorry. But I'm updating now at least. I just want to say thanks for the 6 reviews that I did receive (even if I had wished for more). And great guesses as to who that assassin guy was...I still haven't decided whom I am going to make it.**

_**By the Way, I live in America and have never made it off of the East Coast of the US, let alone to a different country, so if I get anything wrong in that regard, don't kill me. It's not my fault that I don't know these things. **_

**Anyways, without further ado, here is chapter 1. **

Chapter 1:

Alex and Ben sighed as they made their way out of the airport with the four soldiers trailing behind them.

"This is going to be a lot harder than first expected I see," Ben started once they were out on the sidewalk.

"Yup. So what do you say we find the nearest ATM machine, grab enough money for six train tickets to the border, and get out of Slovenia before it starts to downpour or something." As if on cue, the skies opened up. "Like that," Alex responded before walking down the street as if he didn't even notice the rain.

Which, of course, caused the other five men to look at him in shock. "Alex?" Scooter started. "You do realize that you're now soaking wet and no train conductor will let you on looking like that."

Alex smiled a Cheshire grin, "Yea, but I've still got my good looks and charms, right? I mean, no one can resist when I want something."

"I'm kind of scared to ask whether that's because you have mind-control powers or you're a trigger happy maniac," Sparks commented.

Of course, X-Ray smacked him on the back of his head for that comment, "Are you really that stupid? He'd be in jail before you could blink if he was trigger happy and he obviously cannot control people's minds."

Ben smiled, "You sure about that last part?"

"Yea. He would've convinced those people at the airport to let us get out of the building BEFORE we had to jump on some random flight to some country no one's heard of."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "Plenty of people have heard of Slovenia. I've actually been here at least three times."

"Wow," Texas replied sarcastically, "A whole THREE times. That's going to help us out here."

"Actually…it might," Ben replied. "It just depends on why Alex was here."

"Why?" Scooter asked, confused. "Wouldn't he be here because of a mission? I mean, it's not like anyone in their right mind would come to this dump on vacation."

"Well, Ben, you're right. I was here because of a…job. Anyways, the flat I own should have enough clothes to fit us, and a shower. Speaking of showers, Texas really needs one."

"I do not!" And then Texas had the decency to sniff his armpits, "Well, at least not any more than the rest of you guys!"

"Shut up," Sparks commanded before Scooter could start bickering with Texas. "So, Alex, what kind of job are we talking about here? I mean, I thought working for MI6 was a full time thing."

"The kind that would probably have me arrested if anyone ever found out about. Speaking of which, if any of you speaks to anyone about that part of my life, where this flat is located or anything else of that nature, I will personally hunt you down and kill you myself."

The four soldiers seemed shocked at Alex's cold, harsh tone and words.

Scooter was the one to break the silence…well, would be silence if it weren't for the steady but light rain coming down around them. "I'm guessing that we can guess your side job from that description."

Texas grinned, "But you wouldn't want to kill us, would you? I mean, we're your friends. You'd never kill us, even if we did rat you out."

Alex ducked the arm that Texas was trying to put around his shoulder and was about to reply when Ben beat him to it, "No, just because you're friends with him doesn't mean anything. You'd still be betraying him. You'd just get to look forward to a quick sniper shot verses a slow, drawn out death."

White faces were plastered on the soldiers.

"But don't worry. That's only if you betray him. And he's a bit more lenient on what he counts as betrayal when it comes to his friends," Ben reassured them. "As long as you don't go seeking out someone with political power and spill all that you see, you'll be fine. At least you will be if I'm reading Alex correctly and if he hasn't changed drastically over the past two years."

Alex smiled, "Who says I haven't, Ben? You remember all of the assassins that kept showing up on your missions and taking out the guy about to kill you? How merciless those assassins seemed to be?"

Ben nodded and suppressed a shiver, "I don't know why they never killed me, but I can tell that I'm lucky to be alive…wait! How did you know about that?"

Alex smirked, "Take a wild guess. Me = assassin. Me = master of disguises. Me = master of finding out information. Me = your adopted son. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

Ben's eyes widened, "Wow. You really have changed. And that explains why they never killed me and why they sometimes even told me information I didn't know myself…speaking of which, how did you even stay in the SAS? I mean, with your side job and going on missions for MI6. When were you even in the camp?"

"Well…being with C-Unit was more of just a place I could live. I really wasn't there all that often. But my missions never lasted more than 3 weeks-except for that one time I got captured and tortured for information- but that's beside the point. And I'd just disappear for like one day at a time for my side job. No one got suspicious. They just figured I was more involved with MI6 than most agents. It worked out. They still don't know anything."

"You know what would be funny?" Texas suddenly asked. "If you were on one of your side jobs and your location got leaked and then the head of MI6 came to brief the soldiers about hunting down an assassin and then they found you and found out that you are actually some heartless killer."

Silence followed.

"And how exactly would that be funny?" X-Ray finally questioned.

"It wouldn't be," Ben replied for Texas.

"What about Ben?" Scooter suddenly asked, confusing all.

"What about Ben?" Sparks asked, tired of being constantly confused.

"I mean, what if Ben were to betray Alex? I really can't see Alex going and killing Ben. It would probably make him suicidal after Ben's death."

Ben smiled grimly, "If I betrayed him-which I would never- I'd probably find myself kidnapped and taken to some secure place where I would be unable to escape from. And then Alex would probably beat me up within an inch of my life and then help me recover. And then I'd probably be forced by him to get a new identity and start a new life elsewhere with no contact to anyone from my old life-except for Alex."

Texas whistled, "And to think that would be what would happen to Alex's adopted father and closest friend."

"Hey!" Alex replied, indignant. "I am not THAT cruel, Ben!"

Ben simply raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, so maybe I can be. But I probably wouldn't make you cut off ALL contact…just most. I mean, you would still be allowed to talk to K-Unit over the phone."

"As long as I didn't reveal anything about where I was located, where you were located or any other dangerous information of the sort," Ben replied with a smile.

"Or maybe I'd offer you a job," Alex replied. "I mean, we'd have to work on your shooting abilities, but it wouldn't be too hard. You know, that's not actually a bad idea-to get a partner I mean."

"I'm fine with you getting a partner as long as they don't betray you. If they do, let's just say nighty-night assassin," Ben replied with a determined look in his eye.

"This is the point in time where I throw a teenage tantrum and complain all about how I don't need my ADOPTIVE father looking out for me and how I'm capable to make my own decisions, right?" Alex questioned with a wry smile.

"Have you even ever thrown a teenage tantrum?" Texas asked.

Ben and Alex glanced at each other, "Depends."

"On what?"

"On whether trying to make the head of MI6 get really mad a riled up or throwing one as part of a cover counts. If not, then no."

Before Texas could ask for any more details, Alex stopped walking.

"Here we are."

They entered the building and Alex led them to flat number 13.

Ben raised an eyebrow at the number, "Coincidental, or trying to be funny."

"Second one," Alex replied with a grin. "I mean, it was a choice between 13 or 6. I chose 13 because where else would you hide the luckiest man on Earth but in a flat numbered with the unluckiest number?"

After pulling out his ipod and opening up a hidden compartment in the back, Alex pulled out a key from said compartment and unlocked the flat.

"I'm surprised you don't have more than one key in there," X-Ray commented. "Surely this isn't the only flat you own?"

"You're right, it's not. But this is the key to every single one of them. One key fits all as it were."

"That's…useful," Scooter replied.

"Go take your showers while I run out and get some money," Alex commanded. "There should be clothes of several different sizes in the guest bedroom. Help yourself."

As he turned to leave, Texas stopped him, "What about food? I'm hungry."

"You can try anything you find in the cabinets, but make sure you check the dates. I have no clue how old most of the stuff is."

And with that, the spy/assassin walked back out into the rain looking for the world like some typical teenager caught out in the storm. You could almost believe that he was some innocent kid and not someone that could very easily kill you.

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Italy was beautiful this time of year, Ben mused looking around after exiting the train.

"Remind me never to visit Slovenia again," Texas groaned.

"Why?" Ben questioned. "It's not like anything bad happened."

"I don't know. I just didn't like it. Australia is so much better."

"Well," Alex commented, "I liked Slovenia. One of the only places where things didn't go drastically wrong. I didn't even have to go to the hospital after that mission."

"Mission?" Sparks questioned. "I thought you had a side job there."

"I had both. I just bought the flat during one of my side jobs."

"You know something?" X-Ray started as they walked down a street of the mid-sized city.

"What?" Texas asked while practically jumping up and down.

"I really like it here in Italy. I mean, the sun's shining, it's a beautiful day. Almost as if nothing could go wrong."

"Well, good for you. That makes one of us that likes Italy," Alex replied.

"And as for the beautiful day? Well, red sun, sailors warning. Blue sky, spy's warning. It's at times like these where nothing seems able to go wrong that all of hell breaks loose," Ben replied.

And they were just about to find out how right he was.

**A/N: Sorry about the lack of action. I PROMISE there will be more in the next chapter. This one just basically gave more information of the enigma that is Alex Rider. Sorry if you disliked it, as I am not a very good writer. If you are uninterested, I PROMISE things will get more interesting. I just needed a chapter to start to set things up. **

**Anyways, hope you'll stick with me as the plot will unfold more in the next chapter. And if you don't like that Alex is a part-time assassin, well, that's your problem. I can't promise that you won't see more links to his life as an assassin in the future, but I'm pretty sure Alex won't go on any assassinations. But you never know. After all, I'm just winging this story. All I do is start writing a chapter and at the end see where it has gone. For those of you who are worried, though, yes, I do have a basic plot in mind. Please R&R! I was really hoping for more than 6 reviews, but it's understandable.**


	3. For The Best?

Chapter 2:

_Last Time: _

"_I really like it here in Italy. I mean, the sun's shining, it's a beautiful day. Almost as if nothing could go wrong."_

_"Well, good for you. That makes one of us that likes Italy," Alex replied._

_"And as for the beautiful day? Well, red sun, sailors warning. Blue sky, spy's warning. It's at times like these where nothing seems able to go wrong that all of hell breaks loose," Ben replied._

_And they were just about to find out how right he was._

The streets could really be described as nice-to any civilian that is. Flowers were blooming, trees provided shade, and there was no trash in sight. It really was beautiful especially on a clear sunny day. But as they walked down the streets, the two spies and four soldiers were conscious of the underlying tension that hung in the air. Italy held the homes of too many enemies. Too many madmen bent on revenge. Too many criminal organizations.

The four soldiers hadn't felt the tension until Alex and Ben reminded them of the late Scorpia and several other well-known organizations that held their bases in Italy.

"Scorpia? Aren't they like destroyed? I mean, yea, this was once their home country, but their all dead and gone now, right?" Scooter questioned.

"You do realize that just because you get rid of enough of their resources and superiors for an organization to not be able to continue, that doesn't mean that everyone is dead and gone? I'm sure there are several very good assassins that slipped away once the organization collapsed and joined other groups," Ben replied.

"And most of them would love to take revenge out on two spies and four soldiers, never mind the guy who betrayed them and caused their downfall," Alex continued.

"I guess that makes sense…ish. But why can't people get over it and just give up?"

Ben snorted and didn't answer his question. Alex smirked, "Brawns, not brains."

Ben cracked a smile and the four soldiers just looked confused.

"….Was that supposed to be an insult?" Texas questioned.

"Of course."

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"Are we almost there?" Texas complained. "We've been walking for days. My feet hurt."

"How did you get into the SAS? We've only been walking for an hour," X-Ray replied.

"Maybe it was my charm and good looks!"

Scooter snorted, "Doubtful. Remember which one of us still can't hold a girlfriend for longer than two days."

"What about Mackenzie?"

"You paid her to pretend to be your girlfriend for a week to try and prove that you could get a girlfriend, but she left you after three days…and you were paying her big money too."

"But it wasn't my fault!" Texas protested.

"Suuuurrrre. Let's just go with that. It will be easier than trying to set your mind back to normal logic."

"MY ILLOGICAL MIND? I think you'll find that yours is way more illogical!"

Alex had been quiet for a while now, and Ben looked over worriedly. He may not have seen his adoptive teenager in over two years, but Ben was sure that Alex hadn't changed completely in that time…even if he did have an unorthodox side job.

"Alex? What's wrong?"

The other four's conversation slowly died out as they heard these three words. They never ended up as anything good.

"Nothing, Ben…it's just that I have this feeling that something's not right here."

"Ok. So something's definitely wrong here and we're missing something big. Now what is it, Alex? Think," Ben replied, trying to stay calm enough to coax the reason behind Alex's bad feeling out.

"I'm trying, Ben. But I can't find anything out of place. Granted, I haven't been here since…" Alex's voice trailed off as the two spies processed what he had just said.

Ben's voice became urgent, "Since what, Alex? Come on. We need to know NOW."

"And why do you need to know now?" Sparks asked, not understanding.

"When a spy recognizes a place as somewhere they've been before, it generally means that they were there on a mission and probably made some enemies. And knowing Alex over here, he probably killed half of them, making them even more enraged, and more persistent to try and kill him. So the fact that he recognizes this place, added with the bad feeling he has, basically tells us that whoever he was up against before is probably back for revenge."

Alex swore, "Of course! How could I forget!"

"WHAT!" Ben whisper-shouted, at least with enough sense to not let the whole world that something was wrong.

"The mafia."

"Seriously? The Italian Mafia? That's pretty cool!" Texas burst out.

"No, not cool, you idiot!" Sparks replied. "But they wouldn't dare attack us with civilian witnesses, right?"

Alex snorted, "For one, yes they would still attack, and two, look around. The streets are deserted. Ugh! I feel so stupid! All of the signs were here!"

"Don't beat yourself up over this, Alex. You probably just assumed that everyone was eating lunch, as it is noontime. We just need to get out of here now," Ben replied. "I'll take Texas and Scooter. You take X-Ray and Sparks. We'll meet up in Trento at your place, ok?"

Alex nodded, "Ok. Your birthday. Just make sure not to go too far south while going there."

"Right. Steer clear of Venice. Got it. See you in a little bit."

The six split off into their two groups of three and off down separate sides of the street. At the next alleyway, one of the groups would split off.

The first alleyway came up of Ben's side of the road. Seven feet before it, Ben nodded good-bye to Alex.

**(A/N: This part is seen from the view that Alex, Sparks and X-Ray were seeing)**

The silenced gunshots seemed to come from nowhere. Scooter collapsed, hidden from view by a parked car along the road. Texas ducked down and paused, seeming to assess the situation. Ben was firing at some unseen enemy from the shelter of a doorway.

Apparently finding something, Texas turned his head to the three across the street, "GO! Get out of here! NOW!"

Sparks nodded at the man and grabbed one of Alex's arms, yanking him towards the closest shop entrance. X-Ray quickly followed behind.

"Come on, guys! Into the shop there!" Sparks half-yelled to them.

Alex was squirming in Sparks' strong grasp, trying to figure out what way he could help his friends across the street. Just before he was dragged into the shop, Alex saw Ben jerk and collapse to the ground. This of course caused him to renew his efforts to get free of the vice-like grip of his upper arm. He needed to help Ben.

Alex was dimly aware of Sparks and X-Ray shouting something at him and the fact that both of them were now attempting to get him inside with force. What he didn't notice was the fact that tears were streaming down his face and that he was muttering his adopted father's name over and over again.

He suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor of the shop with X-Ray and Sparks standing over him breathing heavily. The latter turned quickly around to close the door, but not before Alex glimpsed the men dressed in all black that consumed the area that Ben, Scooter and Texas lay in.

"You trying to get yourself killed?" Sparks yelled at Alex who was sitting up now.

Alex remained silent with his head bent.

"What do you think you were doing?" X-Ray fired the next question.

Alex slowly raised his head with tears shining in his eyes, "They got Ben."

"Yes. And your idiotic moves could have allowed them to get us too!"

"You don't understand! I just got Ben back. They can't…they can't…they can't take him away from me again."

For the next few seconds Sparks and X-Ray got to see the true Alex Rider. The kid who had lost it all and had given everything up. The kid who had nothing but memories of the past to live with. The kid who wasn't even a legal adult, yet still had the fate of the world resting on his shoulders. The kid who was weary and just wanted someone to care.

The kid who had given up his surrogate father just to keep the man safe. The kid whose father had reentered his life, just to be taken away again. The kid who had reached his breaking point far too many times.

Almost gently, X-Ray stepped forward and offered a hand to Alex, "Come on. Let's get you somewhere safe."

Steel entered Alex's eyes. The slipped mask was back in place. "No."

"Don't be like this," X-Ray practically pleaded.

"I said no. I'm going to help Ben."

"Don't do this, Alex," X-Ray warned.

Sparks now also took a step forward, but this step was menacing, "If you want to go back out there, then you'll have to get through the two of us."

The shrug that followed was almost scary. Alex started to stand up and his glance slipped unconsciously to the door. The room had no windows so Alex tried to picture what was going on out there. That's why he didn't see the blow coming.

It knocked all of the breath out of his lungs and he was forced to double over. Using this to their advantage, Sparks and X-Ray jumped forward. Alex was quickly held down by Sparks. The teenager's eyes found Sparks' and the man smirked, "Fail. Now are you going to come quietly?"

Eyes widening in realization, Alex started squirming. Sparks continued to hold him down.

"Sparks." X-Ray said, just loud enough to catch the man's attention.

Sparks nodded, knowing what the man intended to do. "Do it."

Alex never had the chance to see the boot that slammed into the side of his head.

Sparks quickly leapt up and threw the unconscious teen over his shoulder, "Come on, X-Ray. Let's grab one of the cars sitting out back and head off to….where are we going again?"

"Trento. You drive. I'll sit in the back with Alex just in case he wakes up on the drive and tries to make a break for it."

"Yea. I feel really bad for having to do this to him, but it's for his own good, right?"

X-Ray nodded his agreement and the two walked out the back door of the shop. On impulse, X-Ray grabbed a length of rope which was lying on the floor near the door.


	4. Scattered

Chapter 3:

Alex awoke with a mental groan. After all, when one awakes from unconsciousness one can assume that enemies are nearby and it would do no good to alert them that one is awake because of a careless groan.

He felt the rumbling of the car beneath him and the softness of the seat informed him that he was lying on the backseat. His wrists were tied in front of him-rookie mistake. But strangely enough, it felt like his head was lying on someone's lap. _Does that mean that there weren't enough seats for the guy? But if that's the case, then why am I lying on the seat and not the floor or trunk?_

Curiosity taking over common sense, Alex opened his and looked up at the face of man on whom he was laying. _X-Ray? What's going on? Why was I unconscious in the back seat of a car with X-Ray and….Sparks? But if the two of them are here, then where are Scooter, Texas, and Be-OH. Right._

Alex groaned, "Why'd you guys have to knock me out?"

The lap under Alex gave a sudden jolt upwards, "Oh! Alex! You're awake!"

"No really? What was your first clue? Maybe the fact that I'm talking? Or better yet that my eyes are open?"

"Alex," Sparks interrupted in a serious tone. "Are you going to stay in the vehicle, or are you going to try to leave and get yourself killed by going after Ben with no plan and no information whatsoever?"

Alex sighed, "I'm sorry. It was really dumb of me to endanger you guys like that. I'll try not to let it happen again. It's just….yea."

"So would that be a staying in the vehicle?" X-Ray questioned.

"Yea. I'll stay. Where are we?"

"Good. X-Ray, untie Alex."

"And why exactly am I tied up?"

"X-Ray thought it would be a good idea just in case you woke up and tried to go after your dad. The ropes would slow you down enough so he could hopefully notice in time and grab/restrain you from leaving. There's no need for them if you're finally thinking straight."

X-Ray got the final knot untied and Alex sat up, the rope falling to the floor of the car.

"So where did you say we were?" Alex questioned, hoping to get an answer this time.

"About a half hour away from Trento. Get your seatbelt on. You shouldn't be in a moving vehicle without it on," Sparks answered/commanded.

Alex raised an eyebrow, "And if that is the case, then why haven't I been wearing one for the first part of the journey?"

"We didn't want you too near any of the doors. This way you couldn't just use one hand to unlock it and the other to open the door and dive out before we noticed. X-Ray could grab you before you made it to the door."

"Maybe you guys aren't as hopeless as I thought. I mean, still not the best idea for keeping me in the car, but better than what most would come up with. Good job."

"Get your seatbelt on, kid."

Alex rolled his eyes, but did as asked. After five minutes, he realized that X-Ray was staring at him.

"What do you want?"

In answer X-Ray just shook his head.

"He's making sure you're not faking it and aren't about to jump out," Sparks answered.

"And why would I jump out of a moving vehicle? Do you think I'm stupid? That would hurt!"

"Somehow, kid, I think you do it for fun on the weekends. And something tells me that the pain from hitting the street is something that you wouldn't care about and would just brush off as nothing."

Alex opened his mouth to protest, but X-Ray beat him to it, "And yes, Ben informed us of your strong lack of self-preservation."

Alex's mouth closed once more and he silently stared out the window.

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Ben awoke with a mental groan. After all, when one awakes from unconsciousness one can assume that enemies are nearby and it would do no good to alert them that one is awake because of a careless groan.

He remained perfectly still for several minutes before his curiosity getting the better of him and opening his eyes to look around. After all, it's not like he heard any movement or anyone.

He was in a cell. Something he should've guessed. Scooter and Texas were lying on the floor, just as haphazardly as Ben had been before he woke up. _Wait. Scooter and Texas? What were they doing here? And if they were here, then where were Sparks, X-Ray, and Al-OH. Right. The Italian Mafia had showed up. Shot Scooter in the leg. Knocked me out with a tranquillizer dart. Texas must've been knocked out too. But why had Scooter been shot with a bullet and me with a dart?_

It dawned on Ben that he was probably the important prisoner here and that they would risk killing or seriously injuring him. Which didn't bode well for the two Australians. Which meant it was time to pull an Alex and sacrifice himself to get them out of here. Alex did it often enough.

The other two awoke with a groan, snapping Ben out of his thoughts.

"Morning sleeping beauties."

"Ben?"

"Yea. And Texas is right next to you," Ben replied.

"Good. Then shut up."

"Awww. Does someone have a headache?" Texas asked, slowly sitting up.

"YES!...And my leg hurts," Scooter replied following Texas' lead.

"I don't doubt that. They shot you after all," Ben replied.

Realization dawned on Scooter and he started checking out his leg. After all, he was the medic of the group.

"Why do you think they cleaned and bandaged it?" Scooter questioned.

"So that you wouldn't die," a voice coming from the cell door answered.

Three heads whirled around to see who was speaking. A man stood there watching them through the bars of the door.

"Why would you care?" Scooter asked hesitantly.

"We don't."

"But-"

"We need this one," the man gestured vaguely towards Ben, "to give us some information and two hostages are better than one."

"Who are you?" Texas questioned, curious as to who would think in terms of hostages and information and what Ben could know that the man wanted.

"Don't you know? Didn't your young companion inform you of who was following you? We are the Italian Mafia. Remember that as you scream in pain and we haunt your dreams."

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It was dinner time when Wolf got the call. The ringtone shattered through the air in the mess hall, instantly silencing the soldiers. Cell phones were for emergency only. K-Unit was one of the few units that actually carried them around during the day, seeing how they were MI6's favorite unit to use and they were often called away to help clean up some mess an agent had made or rescue someone. Or to be informed when Cub or Fox were in the hospital….again.

Conversations stopped. Forks froze halfway to their mouths. They all knew the Jaguar (Cub) and Fox had left on a mission a week ago. Now Wolf was getting a phone call. Everyone immediately assumed the worst.

C-Unit and the rest of K-Unit held their breaths.

"Hello?"

….

"About what?"

….

"Are they ok?"

….

"What do you mean you don't know."

….

"So what went wrong?"

….

"HE WHAT?"

….

"The CIA? What have they got to do with anything?"

….

"Well, where did they go?"

….

"Why don't you just call them and find out?"

….

"Get rid of him, then!"

….

"So what do you want us to do?"

….

"So we're just supposed to sit here and do nothing? NO WAY! You can't just abandon them like that!"

….

"ALL THE MORE REASON TO FIND THEM!"

….

"Of course not."

….

"Well, we'll be here. Inform us of any changes."

….

"Well, you might want to just this once. I might know a few too many things and have a few too many connections in certain places….which would not bode well for you if I happened to-"

….

"See? I knew we could get over this misunderstanding."

….

Wolf cut the call and his face grew weary.

"Wolf? What's wrong?" Snake dared to venture.

"It was MI6. Calling about Cub and Fox."

"Cub?" That was Beaver from G-Unit. "But didn't he die two years ago?"

"Jag and Cub are the same person," Heron, leader of C-Unit answered.

"WHAT?"

"Yea. Now what's up with the two of them. Don't tell me they've landed in the hospital AGAIN," Snake questioned.

"Well, it seems that they were sent on a mission in Australia to go undercover in some new terrorist group that's got all of the intelligence agencies worried."

"Another one?" Eagle sighed.

"Yes, now shut up. There was a slight mishap, though, when Cub ran into the group in Miami, where their layover flight was. He got away and the CIA arrested the terrorist guys, but one of them got away and no one realized. And then the guy got back, reported, and went digging into Cub's life. And promptly found out who he was and that he's actually alive."

Snake, Eagle, and Tiger's faces went pale. "You don't mean…"

"Yup. So the whole freaking world knows that Alex Rider is alive and every freaking enemy that he ever had, and didn't destroy, is now out for revenge. And of course, this new terrorist group wants him all the more…probably to brainwash him or erase his memories like everyone else. After all, he could be the ultimate killing machine if he ever chose."

"So what happened? Are they ok?" Coyote asked with a troubled and worried expression on his face.

"No one knows."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO ONE KNOWS?" Snake asked, the tension getting the normally calm medic into a frenzy.

"Let me continue and I'll tell you. Fox and Cub made it to Australia but were picked up by their SAS before making it to their rental car. Remember the terrorists that the CIA picked up in Miami? Well, one of them talked and there's a mole inside of MI6 broadcasting Cub and Fox's mission to the rest of the world. Luckily the mole didn't know who they were, just that two high ranking agents were being sent to infiltrate the terrorist organization."

"So MI6 has a mole? That really can't be good…" Tiger muttered.

"No, it really isn't. So anyways, MI6 got informed that the CIA was forcing Fox and Cub to abort the mission and that an Australian SAS unit would escort the pair back to England. Of course, the mole caught wind of this and so everyone and his brother were waiting at the airport for Fox and Cub."

"And let me guess…they got caught? And now nobody knows where they are because nobody knows anything about this new group?" Eagle questioned.

"Thankfully, no. Cub, Fox and the four Aussies were chased through the airport but managed to hop onboard a random flight and get out of the country. They landed in Slovenia and no one knows where they've gone. There's footage of them entering a train headed to Italy, but after that there's nothing. No trace. And only the heads can look for them because anyone else could be the mole leaking information."

"Well, no trace is a good thing, right?" Tiger questioned. "I mean, no news is good news, right?"

"Normally yes. But not now. Everyone and their cousin knows that Alex Rider is alive, right? So everyone's looking for him. And most groups know that Fox has some connection to Alex Rider, so they'll be on the lookout for him too. At this point in time, no news means that someone's gotten ahold of them."

"But we have to remember that this IS Cub we're talking about. The kid's a freaking ninja."

Wolf nodded, agreeing with Snake before dropping the bombshell, "Yea, but the area where Cub and Fox supposedly entered Italy? Well the Italian Mafia were suddenly quite active on the same day. And now they've seemed to retreat once more to their hidden bases. And the Italian Mafia holds a strong grudge against Alex Rider. If they've gotten hold of him, there's a good chance Cub is either dead or currently being tortured to death."

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"So what do you want to know?" Ben asked, hoping for a question different from what he knew they were going to ask.

He was currently tied to a chair in a concrete room that had just a few too many blood stains for his liking.

Likewise, Texas and Scooter were also tied to chairs, just more in the center of the room while Ben was off to the side.

"Tell us where Alex Rider is and we'll let your friends go."

Ben's stomach dropped. So everyone knew. "Truthfully?"

"Yes. We want the truth and only the truth. Think of this like court. You tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In exchange, they get a lot less pain and get to live."

"In that case, truthfully I have no clue whatsoever."

The man smiled, "Wrong answer. Though I can't say I wasn't hoping for it." The man grabbed a knife off of a side table that held plenty of items that would cause a lot of pain.

And so the torture begins….


	5. The Enemy of My Enemy

A/N: So I haven't really been finding any reason to update lately…want to know why? Because I only got 4 reviews last time. So this has me wondering….is it really worth continuing the story for only these four people?

Disclaimer: Just out of curiosity…..do I look like Anthony Horowitz? Because if you ask me, I'm the wrong gender, wrong age, and a much worse writer than him…..(AKA I do not own Alex Rider or any of the characters from the amazing books)

Chapter 4:

Alex sighed in relief as they entered Trento, unaware that Ben was doing the same thing not too far from his current location…just for a totally different reason.

"Take the next right, then the next left and then the third right, Sparks," Alex commanded, directing the man to the safehouse.

"Do like not have patience? Why don't you wait until I've made this turn first before telling me where to turn afterwards, seeing how I most likely will just ask you anyways," Sparks commented.

Alex shrugged, "Maybe because I'm lazy? And I really don't have patience. Just ask Ben. I drive way over the speed limit all of the time."

"Don't you ever get caught?" X-Ray asked incredulously.

Alex smiled, "Nope. And even if a police officer tries chasing me down…well, let's just say I know a bit about evasive driving."

"Don't they just write down your plate number and look it up and then hunt you down?"

"Nope!" Alex replied a bit too cheerfully. "It's called having a car that switches plates so if I see a police car, I just change the plate to a certain one. So one of the license plate numbers has all of these tickets attached to it, but they can never find me seeing as the car is technically unregistered as it is an MI6 car. Well, actually it's just a normal car that has been updated by MI6, but same difference."

"Someone was certainly a bad influence on you," X-Ray replied with a grin…which faded when Alex's face closed off.

"Third building on the right, Sparks," Alex stated in an emotionless voice.

X-Ray and Sparks shared a glance. What had happened to the cheerful boy from moments before? Better yet, what had happened to the kid to make him be able to do 'unemotional' and 'uncaring' so well?

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Ben sighed in relief as the questioning finished for the day and they were thrown back into their cell, unaware that Alex was doing the same thing not too far from his current location…just for a different reason.

The door clanged shut, and Ben immediately got up and moved over to the other two. Unlike them, Ben had suffered no injuries other than a black eye and bruised jaw. Their torturer's orders had been to not hurt the spy-only the soldiers.

As a result, Texas and Scooter had definitely looked better in their lifetime, but they were soldiers and wouldn't give up just because of a few slight injuries. Or so Ben hoped. He wasn't quite sure what kind of RTI was taught in Australia, after all.

"Scooter? You ok?" Ben asked tentatively, moving to the man's side.

"Yea, I'm fine. No broken bones. And these cuts should stop bleeding in a few minutes…except for maybe this one. I should probably wrap it up at some point in time. How's Texas?"

"I'm fine." Texas replied, wincing slightly as he sat up. "Just a little beat up and a few cuts which should heal on their own. How about you, Ben?"

Ben nearly scoffed at the pair but instead settled for rolling his eyes, "Me? As you know I'm perfectly alright. Those bastards were only interested in hurting the two of you, remember? I was off limits. By the way, sorry."

"For what?" Texas questioned, looking confused.

"For the fact that I couldn't answer their questions and make them stop hurting you two."

Scooter rolled his eyes, "Ben. This is nothing. We're barely hurt. There's nothing to be sorry for."

"Not yet there isn't," Ben muttered under his breath.

"And there won't be. We're soldiers, Ben. We understand the reasoning's and we're used to this. No matter who dies, you do not give information out to the enemy. Especially if their asking about an 18-year-old kid so that they can go out and kill him."

"But that's just it. They probably won't kill him, which makes you guys getting hurt all the worse. Especially because they will find out eventually."

Texas looked confused once more, "Wait a second…why wouldn't they kill the kid? I thought they were out for revenge…"

Ben nodded, "Yes, but since Alex became the world's greatest spy all of these people have figured out a worse revenge on both Alex and everyone near to him-turning him."

Scooter snorted, "Well, I tell them good luck. That kid is the most stubborn person I've met and would never willingly change sides to join a group with a vendetta against him."

Ben's eyes were serious as he glanced into first Scooter's, then Texas'. "Who said anything about willingly?"

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Without saying a word, Alex climbed out of the car and stayed silent the entire journey to his flat and even into the entering. Once he heard the door shut behind X-Ray, only then did he open his mouth and just to tell the two soldiers where everything was located. And then he disappeared into one of the back rooms.

X-Ray, being able to cook without burning the building down opened the cabinets in an attempt to find something that he could cook with and make them some dinner. Surprisingly, he found some pasta sauce and spaghetti that were both unexpired. Everything else was worthless.

Twenty minutes later found Sparks calling Alex for dinner while X-Ray brought the food over to the table. A can of peaches had also been discovered and although it was a meager dinner, it was still good.

When Alex appeared, he looked much more like his normal self. But by now the two soldiers had found out that more often than not, Alex was simply reflecting what he thought they wanted to see. The only person he did not attempt this with, was Ben. The man knew Alex far too well.

"Looks good," Alex commented while sitting down. "You actually managed to find something edible in that kitchen?"

"You'll never know," X-Ray replied with a smile while starting to eat.

Alex raised an eyebrow while bringing a glass of water to each of them, "But the question is, if it were expired, would you be digging in and stuffing your mouth like that?"

A fork stopped mid-air as X-Ray realized that he had given himself away very obviously, "Fine. You win. None of its expired, though we only have about a month left, so unless you want it to expire before you eat it, I would suggest opening your mouth and stuffing it as well."

Alex shrugged and started eating like a normal person along with Sparks. X-Ray seemed to be the only one without any manners.

"This actually doesn't taste all that bad," Sparks commented after taking a break from eating to take a large gulp of water.

"Why would it?" X-Ray questioned indignantly also pausing in his mad dash to eat the food on his plate.

"Because it's food supplied by an assassin. For all we know he hid poison in it. Or better yet a drug to knock us out…"

Alex smiled innocently, "And why would I do a thing like that?"

"For revenge, duh. We knocked you out earlier," X-Ray replied after downing his glass of water.

Alex's head slowly nodded and he replied, "You guys are actually smarter than I've been giving you credit for."

Both heads jerked in his direction, alarmed.

Sparks' eyes narrowed, "You wouldn't…"

"You stopped me from helping Ben. And you yourself reminded me that I am an assassin."

"But how…?" X-Ray's words were slightly slurred and he leaned heavily against the back of his chair.

"I gave you guys your drinks."

The two soldiers groaned as their eyes fluttered closed. Sparks' last remark was 'Freaking kid.'

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Two hours after they had been thrown into their cell again, Ben began to hear running feet, shouts, and gunfire. Turning to the two soldiers he commented, "I'm hoping that that's someone whose on our side."

"You mean like a case of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?" Scooter questioned.

"Yea, but it could easily be a case of 'the enemy of my enemy is my enemy'," Texas pointed out.

Ben nodded in agreement, "Well, all we can do is hope. I would say that it might be the SAS or someone like that coming to break us out, but no one in England knows where we are."

"WE don't even know where we are," Texas commented.

"Well, actually, I take my previous statement back," Ben said thoughtfully. "Alex knows where we are. But I really hope he wasn't stupid enough to try and rescue us." The footsteps and gunfire were getting closer and louder. "But knowing him, he probably is going to try to break us out."

"But if it is Alex, then where did he get all of his buddies? I mean, there has to be at least a dozen guys coming this way."

"Believe me," Ben replied. "You don't want to know. I never do. And don't doubt him. He always seems to manage to double or triple our numbers with one small phone call."

"How does he know so many people?"

"That's the other thing I don't want to know."

Their conversation was abruptly cut off as the door slammed open and two guards from the Italian Mafia ran in, guns drawn, "Get up! You're coming with us!"

The guards were obviously worried, confused, and in a hurry. Ben decided it might be a good idea to get out of there.

He looked at his two companions. They nodded in agreement. But three heads shot forwards when two gunshots in very close vicinity rang out. Both guards crumpled to the floor, dead. Eight men walked up to the doorway, stopping just before the two dead bodies.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" One of the intruders asked, raising his gun. "Some prisoners who have, unfortunately, remained alive. I think something needs to be done about that."

Ben looked down the barrel of the gun and swallowed hard as he saw the man's finger tighten on the trigger. A small CRACK! resounded in the room. There was a sharp pain in Ben's chest before everything went black. His last thought had been how Alex was going to cope with this.

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Texas' face was white as he looked down at the prone body of Ben and all of the blood. Turning to Scooter he noticed that that man's face was also deathly pale.

"Alex is going to kill us." Texas remarked in a hoarse whisper.

Scooter nodded dazedly before glancing back up at the men who had entered the room, "But I have a feeling he'll have to get in the back of a really long line…"


	6. Smiles and Shivers

A/N: Thanks guys for all of the awesome reviews!

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Alex Rider or any of the characters from the books….just in case you were confused on that

Chapter 5:

_Texas' face was white as he looked down at the prone body of Ben and all of the blood. Turning to Scooter he noticed that that man's face was also deathly pale. _

"_Alex is going to kill us." Texas remarked in a hoarse whisper. _

_Scooter nodded dazedly before glancing back up at the men who had entered the room, "But I have a feeling he'll have to get in the back of a really long line…"_

The man raised the gun once more and Scooter breathed a silent sigh of relief as Texas was shot. The man was still using the tranquilizer gun. He glanced once more at the unconscious form of Ben and the dart sticking up out of his chest. No blood was found there, though the blood on the floor was slowly spreading towards Ben's still body. Scooter most certainly did NOT want to be Ben and wake up with someone else's blood all of him.

Right before he too was shot, Scooter stepped back a bit. After all, he didn't really want to fall into the blood on the floor from the two dead guards when he slipped into unconsciousness. Out of the corner of his eye as the dart went spinning in his direction, he saw Ben's hands being tied before being thrown over someone's shoulder.

The last thought he had was, '_Alex is going to kill us for being kidnapped again and moved locations…'_

**(A/N: Ha! I had you guys there for a while. You thought that I was actually evil enough to kill off Ben! Ha! Everyone was so sad he died….. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!)**

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Sparks couldn't help but groan as he woke up. His head was pounding and he felt like he was going to lose his dinner at any point in time. Wait-dinner? What had happened?

A groan resounded from next to him, and Sparks jerked his head around, taking in his surroundings. He was in a bedroom of sorts, lying on one bed. The walls were a plain white, and there was nothing in the room to personalize it or even give any indication that anyone lived there. Minimal furniture cluttered the room, filling up the small space along the walls. X-Ray was lying on the other bed, slowly rolling over and obviously also feeling the effects of the headache.

"X-Ray?" Sparks called out softly, not knowing where he was or how he had gotten there.

"Mmmhmmm," X-Ray groaned in reply, slowly opening his own eyes and taking in his surroundings as well.

"What happened?"

"We…I…What DID happen?" X-Ray replied.

Sparks rolled his eyes, "Why do you think I'm asking you?"

"How should I know? I can't remember what happened to us."

"Well, think. Maybe you'll remember then."

"Why do I have to be the one to think and remember? Why can't you?" X-Ray complained.

"Because I am the team leader. Therefore, it's your job."

"That's not a good enough reason."

"Just tell me what remember," Sparks replied, annoyed. "Think deep into the recesses of your mind. I'm sure it will come to you."

X-Ray frowned, but complied, "All I remember is thinking that Alex is a sadistic little bastard. But why would I think that?"

"I don't really know. Keep thinking," Sparks ordered.

"Why don't you? I gave you a piece of my memory, it's your turn to return the favor."

Sparks sighed, "I don't know. We've been drugged and I have no clue with what. It's making my mind all fuzzy."

"Guess what!" X-Ray replied, perking up a bit.

"What?" Sparks questioned, eager to see what piece of information X-Ray had remembered.

"I was drugged too! And yet, I still managed to use MY memory. So it's your turn."

"I don't really know. Something about dinner. What were we eating again? Pasta? And then Alex gave us water or something to drink," Sparks replied.

A minute and a half later, both soldiers sat bolt upright in realization.

"Alex drugged our water!" X-Ray exclaimed.

"And he's probably going after Ben! Shoot! He's going to get himself captured or killed," Sparks added in a worried tone.

Both soldiers got up and quietly made their way down the hallway where they found a small kitchen-a very familiar kitchen at that. This surprised X-Ray immensely, though, at the same time it didn't. He expected to be in some unknown flat halfway across the country, but at the same time, Alex wouldn't have dragged them anywhere if he wanted to get out of there and find Ben. It would take too much time.

"So we're still in the flat. Let's look for clues to see when Alex left and where he might've been going," Sparks ordered.

X-Ray nodded, then left the room only to come back a second later, "Sparks, come take a look at this."

Curious, Sparks nodded and followed X-Ray through the tall doorway and into the living room, "What the heck?"

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

_**(RECAP FROM PROLOGUE) **_

_The assassin picked up his phone and ordered two men to his office. When they had assembled, he gave them each a photograph and began to speak._

"_That boy, the one in the picture, is your target. His name is Alex Rider. I want you to find him and bring him to me-alive. He will most likely be in disguise as he faked his death a couple of years back and has been living under a new identity. I do not know whom he was posing to be. Any information you find will be relayed back to me. Try to find someone who had close connections with Rider. I would like to know how this mission is going, but you two are in charge. You will, of course, be paid, but the matter of how much depends on what condition Rider is in and how long you take to complete this task."_

_The assassin turned away from the two men and they immediately recognized the dismissal. They left without a word. The assassin smiled as he watched the sun rise above the horizon, "Soon, Rider. Soon."_

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Ben awoke once more from a drug-induced sleep and concluded for probably the 30th time in his life that he hated being drugged. It happened a little too often.

From the little he remembered, he deduced that he had been kidnapped from the Italian Mafia's headquarters and brought somewhere else. Where he was at the moment, he had no clue.

Surprisingly, he was lying down on what felt like a hard cot. His wrists were handcuffed to the sides of it, and it seemed that his ankles were as well. It seemed that his captors weren't taking any chances. The one thing that really startled him, though, was the fact that he had a pillow under his head. Granted, it wasn't the softest thing in the world, but it gave Ben a clear indication that whoever had captured him wanted something. Probably the same thing the Mafia had wanted, he decided.

Opening his eyes, he found himself, unsurprisingly, in a locked room without any windows and only one door. The thing that stood out, though, was the fact that there was carpet on the floor and the room could have easily been used as an office. Just in some creepy old mansion. Everything was way out of style, and there was a thick layer of dust on all of the book cases. The light fixtures were Old-Victorian style and gave off soft yellow light, creating dark shadowed corners in the room. Ben's cot was lying pretty central in the room, and he had to move his head in order to see everywhere.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Scooter and Texas with him, just slumbering in their chairs. It seemed that Ben was definitely the prisoner with all of the power once more. He got a bed (ish) and the extras got chairs-which was not a comfortable way to be tied for hours on end. That was something he could testify to.

He would've jumped when the door slammed open, had he not been a spy. He had been in the business for about four years so far, and had spent his early days going on missions with Alex. AKA getting caught on every mission and tortured before escaping. And there were very few captors that did not like their own flair of dramatics.

Pretending to still be asleep, Ben laid there and forced himself not to tense when he heard a set of footsteps walk into the room. Two more quickly followed.

"Who is he?" A man snapped, obviously a superior. He did not seem to have any set accent, but it sounded as if English had been his first language. American maybe? British but lost the accent?

"Sir. The one in the center of the room is Benjamin Daniels. One of MI6's top agents. Ex-SAS codename Fox. Spent a year as Rider's partner. Daniels even adopted the boy."

"Interesting…" the first man mused. "And the others?"

"Australian SAS soldiers. Half of a unit. After a brief run in with TEAR, Terrorism Extortion Assassination Revenge, in Australia, the unit was assigned to be bodyguards to Rider and Daniels on their return trip."

"So where is Rider?"

"These three had been captured by the Italian Mafia. We broke into their base, but Rider wasn't there. We're still looking, but Rider seems to have gone to ground. He's off the grid again. No one knows where he is."

"No one?"

"TEAR, Diamond, Italian Mafia, Russian Mafia, Government Intelligence Agencies around the world, no one. They're all looking, but no one can find him. But it's only been two days since he's last been spotted. Rider's probably holed up in some house of his waiting a few days to take people by surprise when he reappears. We'll find him."

"That you will."

Once again, Ben had to fight back a shiver of fear and keep from tensing when he heard the ice cold voice. The voice of someone who would not hesitate to kill him. The voice of an assassin.

Two pairs of footsteps left the room, and Ben was sure that the assassin had stayed behind. He was obviously the leader here. A cruel ruthless leader. Someone that no one wanted to get on the bad side of. And now he wanted Alex.

The footsteps made their way around the hard-cot and Ben knew the man was studying him. Without even seeing the man's gaze, which was sure to be piercing, Ben felt like an insect being dissected.

Without warning, two fingers trailed over his neck and Ben couldn't help but freeze.

"Why don't you open your eyes, Mr. Daniels, and we can have a little chat about a mutual acquaintance of ours? After all, we both know you're awake."

Ben slowly opened his eyes, taking in the appearance of the sadistically-smiling man standing over him. The cold gaze washed over him once more. A barely suppressed shiver on Ben's part followed. Alex was the one that could act totally calm and totally in control in these situations. Ben just settled for emotionless. Alex was, after all, the pro out of the two of them.

"See? Isn't that much better? Now I'm going to go get myself a chair and bring it over here. In the meantime, you can think over what you know about Mr. Rider and his whereabouts and also the fate of your two Aussie friends over there."

The man walked out of the room, and Ben groaned. This day was turning out worse than expected.


	7. To Become a Monster

Disclaimer: If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not an amazing male writer who gets paid for writing a series on a British teenage spy. Therefore I am not Anthony Horowitz and I do not own Alex Rider or any of the characters from the books. Sorry to those of you who truly thought I did own those characters.

"_Why don't you open your eyes, Mr. Daniels, and we can have a little chat about a mutual acquaintance of ours? After all, we both know you're awake."_

_Ben slowly opened his eyes, taking in the appearance of the sadistically-smiling man standing over him. The cold gaze washed over him once more. A barely suppressed shiver on Ben's part followed. Alex was the one that could act totally calm and totally in control in these situations. Ben just settled for emotionless. Alex was, after all, the pro out of the two of them. _

"_See? Isn't that much better? Now I'm going to go get myself a chair and bring it over here. In the meantime, you can think over what you know about Mr. Rider and his whereabouts and also the fate of your two Aussie friends over there."_

_The man walked out of the room, and Ben groaned. This day was turning out worse than expected._

(PAGE BREAK)

"So, why don't we start a little Q&A session?" The man was back, and seemed confident that Ben would do whatever was asked of him.

Ben shifted a little on his bed. At least the man had re-cuffed his hands behind his back so that now he could sit up and face the man. Even if it was awkward due to his ankles still attached to the cot.

"We can start a Q&A session, I just can't promise that all of your questions will be answered," Ben replied politely, being able to see who held all of the cards.

"Sounds fair. Just remember that I don't need your two little friends over there and that I'd really appreciate your answers."

"Point taken."

"Now, I would ask you where Alex Rider is, but I have a feeling that you don't know at the present moment."

"Exactly. He could be in China by now. The moment the Italian Mafia grabbed us was the moment that I ceased to know his whereabouts," Ben really hated to give up information so willingly, but he didn't want to make the soldiers get hurt over a question that would not even get anyone hurt.

"Where has he been for the past two years?"

"All over the world."

"Mr. Daniels. You seem like a very smart man. And Alex, it seems, has taught you how to be intentionally vague and cautious so as to not get anyone hurt. Here's a piece of advice: save it for someone else. I'm afraid I don't enjoy riddles and half-truths like other people."

Ben swallowed, hearing the underlying threat and glanced back to the assassins standing next to his still unconscious soldier friends. Their reason for being present was obvious.

"Got it. But he was still all over the world. You already know that. MI6 continued employing him while he trained."

"With the SAS?"

Ben hesitated, he was on delicate grounds. He had no clue what this man knew and what he truly wanted to know. Locations were always something to be avoided.

The assassin in front of him nodded, and a long gash was cut into Texas' arm. Blood oozed up and ran down the man's arm.

"Now I'll give you one last chance, Mr. Daniels. Was it with the SAS?"

Ben nodded, knowing that he had to tell the man basically anything and everything to keep the soldiers safe. Old habits (created by Alex) made Ben look at soldiers almost as civilians-people that needed to be protected.

"Did Alex have any…side jobs?"

Ben tensed on the inside, but restrained himself from letting his discomfort show. Admitting that Alex worked as a part time assassin was something that could get him into extreme trouble, even if it was another assassin that knew.

"What kind of side jobs are we talking about? He didn't work at the local car wash if that's what you're asking," Ben replied. He knew full well what the criminal was asking. But two could play innocent.

"We both know what I'm asking. Now would you just like to confirm it for me?"

"Not especially. After all, I've only known that Alex was alive for less than 2 weeks. That's a pretty big secret. Why would he inform it of me right away?"

"You're a smart man. Who's to say that you didn't just guess on your own?"

"You seem pretty confident that he does have a side job. If you're so confident in your judgment, why ask me?"

"Because of something he said to me once. _'We stop looking for monsters under our beds when we realize that they are us'_. The Alex Rider I knew made it his business to take out those monsters. And what better way to do that then to acquire a side job?"

Ben's mind was full of confusion, "Wait. But if Alex realized that this life had made him into a monster but he was trying to kill the monsters…I'm confused. He promised that he wouldn't be suicidal anymore."

The assassin smiled, "Yes. Alex is a very interesting boy. His logic is unlike anyone else. I don't believe he was suicidal. I believe that he just thought that if he accepted that he was a monster and that there was nothing he could do to take that back, then he could prevent himself from becoming a bigger monster in the future. Confusing isn't it?"

Ben nodded, "But like you said. No one ever claimed to be able to understand Alex. Well, actually, several psychiatrists did, but that didn't last very long…"

"One of the perks of being a freelance assassin. No one repeatedly insists that you visit a shrink and no one recommends you to one."

"Touché," Ben replied with a small smile. Despite himself, he found that he was rather enjoying this conversation with the assassin. The man was turning out to be someone totally unexpected. At the very least, he killed the stereotype of assassins-cold, ruthless, silent. Not that Ben didn't believe that he could become it in the blink of an eye.

"Now, I guess that I can just assume that Alex has a side job and be done with that matter, as you are obviously attempting at protecting him by neither denying it nor confirming it." The man paused to see if Ben would say anything. He didn't. "So now we broach the question as to what happens now. I could use you as bait and lure Alex in, I could blackmail you into informing me of his whereabouts when you reconnect, or I could kill you right now. None of which would end up successful."

Ben cracked a small smile thinking about what Alex's reaction in each of the three scenarios would be.

"Yes, no use causing further bloodshed…which is why I chose option number 4."

Suddenly on guard, Ben tensed and eyed the man warily, "Option 4?"

"Yes. Option 4. I let you go, and you give a note to Alex when you next see each other. Sound good?"

"What about the soldiers?" Ben asked. There was always a catch in a deal with assassins. Every angle had to be analyzed before a move or agreement could be made.

"Them? Why they'll come with you, of course. I'd much rather not have Alex threatening me within an inch of my life when we next meet. He's very protective. So what do you say?"

"Yes, he is. And do I really have any choice in the matter?" The assassin shook his head. "Then why ask my opinion?"

"For the sake of asking your opinion." An invisible gesture was made, and Ben felt the sharp prick of a needle slide into his back, injecting a cold substance. His upper body was guided back down to the cot and his ankles were released. Not that he could move. The drug seemed to have an instantaneous paralyzing effect followed soon after by unconsciousness.

As his eyes fluttered closed, the assassin walked over to his head and said, "By the way. The name's Walker."

With that final phrase, Ben's body gave into the drug and the blackness engulfed him, leaving him unaware of his surroundings or where he was being taken and powerless to stop it.

A/N: Hey guys! After summer break, I'll get on a regular schedule of a weekly updating, things have just been really crazy with the end of school and everything. I got out less than a week ago, and we had finals up to the last day of school. And I'm leaving on Sunday for 4 weeks at camp, where I'll have no access to a computer. Sorry! I'm hoping to update again on Friday before I leave, but who knows. I'll update when I can. Sorry guys!

Thanks once again to all of you amazing reviewers!


	8. Revenge & Uninvited Guests

Has anyone else noticed how horrible this story has gotten-how predictable, boring, choppy, and uninteresting? If you don't agree with me, I'll keep writing for you guys.

Chapter 7:

_**"Alex drugged our water!" X-Ray exclaimed.**_

_**"And he's probably going after Ben! Shoot! He's going to get himself captured or killed," Sparks added in a worried tone.**_

_**Both soldiers got up and quietly made their way down the hallway where they found a small kitchen-a very familiar kitchen at that. This surprised X-Ray immensely, though, at the same time it didn't. He expected to be in some unknown flat halfway across the country, but at the same time, Alex wouldn't have dragged them anywhere if he wanted to get out of there and find Ben. It would take too much time.**_

_**"So we're still in the flat. Let's look for clues to see when Alex left and where he might've been going," Sparks ordered.**_

_**X-Ray nodded, then left the room only to come back a second later, "Sparks, come take a look at this."**_

_**Curious, Sparks nodded and followed X-Ray through the tall doorway and into the living room, "What the heck?"**_

Both soldiers stopped dead. For sitting on the coffee table was an army of guns ranging from sniper rifles to easily concealed hand guns. And what was even more surprising was the kid on the couch.

Alex was sprawled messily on the green couch, one arm tucked under his head as a pillow. His clothes were dusty, and dirt was visible on his hands. He had only one shoe on, the other sitting on the other side of the room. Long blonde bangs covered closed eyes. It was the most teenage-like they had ever seen the young spy.

"Where do you think he got the guns?" X-Ray questioned, eyeing each one as if it could come alive and shoot him.

"Who knows? This is Alex we're talking about. Who knows about anything that transpires around him? The kid's an idiot and a genius mixed into one," Sparks replied.

"You got that right….now how about we get some revenge by waking him up?"

"Just remember that your head could be blown off before he wakes up."

"Okk….so we have to be at least 3 feet away from him…"

While the two soldiers discussed how to wake the spy up, said spy was caught in the throes of yet another nightmare. Not that they would know it-Alex had trained himself not to make a single noise or movement.

So while Alex lay there desperately wishing someone would come along and wake him up, Sparks and X-Ray stood above him planning, unaware of what they were missing.

(PAGE BREAK)

Alex awoke and sat up with a gasp, water dripping down his face and onto his shirt. He could barely muster a glare at the two laughing soldiers next to him. The nightmare was still a little too fresh in his mind.

"What was that for?" Alex asked, not even slightly amused.

"For drugging our water. And for attempting to go after Ben," Sparks replied.

Alex's eyebrows knit together in confusion, "Who said I went after Ben? I'm not that stupid."

"Actually, you are. But maybe you weren't this time," X-Ray corrected.

"All I did was drag you guys to bed, do some research and pull out a few guns from their hiding places. And then fall asleep."

"And all we did was get drugged, wake up, and throw a bucket of water on you."

Alex stood up abruptly, pushed past them, and headed towards one of the bedrooms to change his soaking shirt, "You'll regret this," was his parting reply before closing his door.

X-Ray and Sparks looked at each other, "I think it's about time that we decided to head back to England. There's nothing we can do for Ben, Scooter, and Texas without more help."

"Plus, maybe one of Alex's soldier buddies can actually control him and knock some sense into his brain."

And thus started the fun of convincing Alex to leave the other three behind.

(PAGE BREAK)

The door opened with a bang, and Wolf stepped through into the mess hall. He was surprised to find that K-Unit was the first to breakfast that morning, though it was not surprising seeing as Eagle actually woke up on time for once. Still, it was very weird to enter the mess hall and only hear faint pots banging from inside the kitchen where the cooks worked. Normally the drone of soldiers' conversations would drown that out.

Finally taking the time to look around, Wolf stopped dead in his tracks. His unit, also looking around, did likewise. They stared for a good two minutes before Wolf finally broke them out of their spell.

"Eagle, go get the Sergeant and tell him to come right away. It seems we've had some unwelcome guests in the area recently who left us a surprising present. Tiger, go with him."

Eagle nodded and quickly left with Tiger trailing behind. Wolf spent one last second watching them jog towards the Sergeant's office through a window before turning to Snake.

"Why don't we see who has managed to get themselves dropped off as prisoners into the middle of an SAS training camp?"

Snake nodded and the two men moved forward.

Three men sat in three separate chairs in the very center of the room. The tables that had previously occupied that area had been shoved carelessly to the side so that the circle of chairs could be easily fit. Ropes could be seen attaching the men to the chairs, although the restraints did not seem necessary due to the fact that all three men appeared unconscious.

Slow, cautious steps were taken by Wolf and Snake as they made their way towards the unknown threat. Not that they knew what this threat was, so it technically could not be called a threat. But still. Their onward progress was paused when the doors opened once more emitting D-Unit into the room. The four entering men stopped talking as soon as they saw Wolf, Snake, and the chairs in the center.

"What's going on?" Koala, the unit leader, asked.

"Not quite sure," Wolf admitted. "We just got here ourselves. I sent Eagle and Tiger to get the Sergeant. Snake and I were just about to see who our guests were."

D-Unit nodded and continued forward once more, following the same path that Wolf and Snake had taken moments before. Now that it was six on three instead of two on three, the soldiers were a bit less cautious in approaching the seemingly unconscious men. No longer were they outnumbered in the case of an enemy.

Without any words being spoken, the soldiers split up into three groups of two. Snake and Owl, the two medics present, each drifted to one of the men that had blood stains on their clothing, while Koala and another member of D-Unit drifted towards the last one.

A flash of silver caused Wolf to pull a chain out from under the man's shirt that he and Snake were checking out. He frowned as he pulled out a silver dog tag.

Turning around, Wolf addressed the other men, "This guy has dog tags. Check if the other do."

Koala spoke up before any one could do anything, "Wolf? Can you come over here? I'm pretty sure this guy is-"

He was cut off by Owl who exclaimed, "This guy is waking up. Watch yourselves just in case."

Four soldiers (excluding the two medics who had turned their attentions back to the unconscious men) turned to face the one man whose eyes flickered open with a groan. It only took him a minute to figure out that there were several pairs of eyes fixed on him and he raised his head, still blinking the drug-induced fog out of his head.

"Who are you? Where am I?" the man asked, eliciting several raised eyebrows.

Wolf stepped forward, "I think the better question would be who YOU are."

"Not to be complicated, but the answers to my questions depend on who YOU are. But I guess you can call me Texas."

Koala raised an eyebrow, "Like the American state? And where are you from?"

Texas shrugged, "I guess like the state, though I certainly was not named after it. And I'm pretty sure that my accent gives away the fact that I'm Australian. I never could get that whole 'changing accents' and 'speaking without an accent' thing down. Speaking of accents, I'm going to assume I'm in England judging off of your accents. Though, I doubt you'll confirm or deny that. Thought not. Where are my two companions?"

Silence followed that statement. Then, the line of soldiers slowly parted in two places to allow a line of sight to the other two visitors.

"Wolf," Snake called out in an odd tone of voice. It was obvious that the medics had forgone their check-overs after deeming both men to be stable.

Wolf was about to respond when recognition dawned in Texas' eyes. Wolf took a menacing step forward, ignoring his teammate for the moment.

"Where have you heard that name before? Who told you of it?" There was no mistaking the malice and anger in Wolf's voice as he spoke. There was a clear threat written in his glaring eyes.

Texas shifted uncomfortably under the glare. "Well, if you are in fact Wolf, then it would seem that we have a few mutual acquaintances. Who might have mentioned your name once or twice. I mean, we're in the same profession and all, soo…."

"And what might that be?" Koala added when the man trailed off.

"I'm not admitting to nothing. A friend of mine-actually a friend of yours as well- has taught me that a whole lot of implied works better than a whole lot of stated truths. He always says: 'Admit to nothing. Therefore, no one can ever use your words against you.' Actually, he says a lot. But technically he doesn't REALLY say anything. Which is just about as confusing as he himself is. But I guess that's to be expected."

Six confused soldiers simply stared at the man before Wolf decided that it was better to just move on. At least, that's what he always did with Cub. Trying to figure out what the kid was saying took up WAY too much energy.

"So who is this friend who you believe to also be a friend of mine? And you had better not say classified."

Texas opened his mouth with an ironic grin on his face when a voice behind the six SAS men groggily spoke.

"Wolf? 'S that you?"

Wolf spun around at the sound, "FOX?!"

"Ugh. No need to shout. Some of us have a splitting headache and would greatly appreciate a lack of screaming in their ear," Ben replied.

"Sorry. Just surprised that you're here. I mean, it was only a few days ago that I get a call informing me that you and Cub have gone off the grid, and then you just show up in the mess hall, tied to a chair."

"Yea, sorry about that. Speaking of being tied up, do you mind untying me and the other guys? I can vouch for them. They won't attack you. They're Australian SAS. I just don't recommend having a BBQ on the beach with them. Those can get a little out of hand."

D-Unit slowly drifted out of the main circle as they saw that they were no longer needed.

"Hey!" Texas cried indignantly. "That was not our fault this time! It was all on you and the kid!"

"Actually, it is your fault. Cub can't not get revenge. And you cause him to need to get revenge."

Texas was once again about to respond when Scooter's voice cut in, "Ben? Texas?"

"Yea, Scoots. We're all here."

By this time, all three men were untied, and Ben and Texas headed over to Scooter as he awoke from the drug.

"Don't call me Scoots!" came the mumbled reply from the Australian.

Texas laughed, "Sure thing, Scootisie-pie!"

Scooter just growled in response.

Ben looked around the room, "Uh, Wolf? Why don't we get out of here and let all of your buddies eat their breakfasts in peace without feeling the need to stare at us?"

Wolf jerked his head away from Fox and took a good look. Everyone in the room was staring, "Uh, yea. Sorry. I didn't realize everyone had come. Speaking of which, where is the Sergeant? Tiger and Eagle should have gotten him by now."

Ben just shrugged, "With our luck, he's probably on the phone with MI6 and doesn't want to just hang up on them. Even though the heads have got to be used to it by now. We should probably go find him ourselves."

Wolf nodded, and the group of four SAS soldiers and one spy left the mess hall.


	9. Far Far Away and Coming Home

**Disclaimer: Guess what? I do not own Alex Rider. Can you believe it? (*extreme sarcasm*)**

Chapter 8:

Bullets sliced through the air as civilians screamed and ran for cover. Return fire stopped some of the guns, but the bullets continued firing. A low-lying brick wall outside of a café provided some cover for a man bleeding from three small scrapes caused by barely dodged bullets. The dirt and grime where he was hunkered down informed the man that he would need to clean the wounds soon to avoid infection. But now was not the time. An innocent Belgium street had turned into a warzone. Ten men against three.

'At least I hope there's still three of us,' the man behind the wall thought to himself. 'For all I know Alex and X-Ray could be dead or captured.'

When the first bullets had range out through the peaceful lull of the crowd, Sparks had been forced to take refuge behind a car while Alex and X-Ray had managed to grab cover behind a dumpster in a nearby alley. If Sparks hadn't stopped to look around and loose his focus, he would not have been fifteen feet behind his companions and they could have stayed together. But no. The unit leader just had to take the peacefulness for what it was and not what it was hiding. And now he was paying the price.

Sparks came out from hiding for another three seconds to shoot two bullets at the enemy before ducking down to get away from return fire. A burning pain in his shoulder told him that he had not in fact managed to get down behind the wall quick enough and one of the gunmen had gotten him. He bit back a curse as he saw just how much blood there was. The day just couldn't get any worse.

A slight scuffle of gravel was the only warning he got before he noticed the man standing not even ten feet away holding a gun. And looking straight at him.

(PAGE BREAK)

The Sergeant slammed down the phone with as much force as possible without breaking it. Muttering curses under his breath about MI6, he turned his attention to the two soldiers who had burst in minutes prior. They obviously had important news, but the head of MI6 just wouldn't agree to go on hold. Stupid, stuck up, careless, heartles-

"Sergeant?"

The Sergeant's attention snapped back to the two soldiers. In his rant over MI6 he had forgotten their presence.

"Yes. What is it?"

"Wolf told us to come tell you that there's three random guys tied up in the mess hall," Eagle replied.

"Yes, of course. There's thre- WHAT?"

"Yes, Sergeant. There's three people tied up in the mess hall."

The Sergeant swore quietly and immediately got up to go with Eagle and Tiger to see what the heck was going on when his office door opened once more.

"Hey Sarge," Ben said coming in and grabbing a seat before putting his feet up on the man's desk.

The Sergeant's eyes widened before he regained his composure. "Fox! So nice to see you back in one piece! When did you get here? And where's-"

Ben held up his hand to stop the man, "I don't exactly know when I got here seeing how I was one of the three unconscious guys tied up in the mess hall until just a few minutes ago. And it's good to be back. And these two men" Fox indicated towards Texas and Scooter, "are half of the SAS unit that was assigned to try and aid Alex and I in getting back into England safely. Texas and Scooter, meet the Sergeant."

"Good day, mate," Texas said, exaggerating his Australian accent. Scooter smacked him on the back of his head.

"Ignore the child next to me," Scooter told the Sergeant. "We wonder sometimes how he even got into the SAS."

"Sounds like Eagle," Tiger joked.

"Hey!" Eagle cried out in outrage. "I take serious offense at that! Snake! Make him take it back!"

Snake sighed, "Tiger…"

"Don't blame me. My mum told me to never tell a lie. And none of us can say that it's not true or be sorry about accepting the fact," Tiger countered.

Snake nodded his head, conceding the point, and Ben quickly continued talking before Eagle could understand that no apology was coming his way.

"Anyways, so from what Wolf tells me, you guys know about our wonderful adventure up until the time that Alex went poof and erased our presence from the face of this planet, right?"

"Alex went poof?" Tiger questioned.

"You know," Fox said carelessly. "He pulled another disappearing act. Only this time he was kind enough to take us with him."

"And we got to see one of his houses! It was SOOOOO cool!" Texas added, practically jumping up and down.

"Stop jumping," Scooter ordered.

Texas pouted, "Stop telling me what to do. And I wasn't jumping!"

"It sure looked like it from here," Wolf countered, getting tired of having two Eagles in the same room.

"Enough," the Sergeant broke over the argument that was sure to start happening at any moment. "Fox, continue with your story. Texas or whatever your name is, don't interrupt. Eagle, no speaking. Wolf, don't kill anyone."

"Who names their child Texas?" Eagle wondered aloud.

"EAGLE. No. Speaking," Wolf commanded.

"Yes, master," Eagle replied with a grin.

"Glad to see you know your place," Wolf countered.

Most of the eyes in the room snapped to Wolf.

"Woah, man," Tiger said dramatically. "Someone's been hanging out with Cub a bit too much."

"That was totally worthy of Alex," Snake agreed. "He needs to watch himself when he gets back. Someone's learning how to win word battles by using words and not fists."

Fox cracked a grin, "Why don't you guys let me continue before you get massacred by the Sergeant."

Snake audibly clicked his mouth closed, and then reached over to cover Eagle's when the man opened his mouth.

A second later, Snake was jerking his hand away, "Eww. Eagle licked me."

"I wouldn't have had to if your dirty hand wasn't over my mouth," Eagle replied.

"Snake. Eagle. SHUT UP," Wolf commanded.

Ben opened his mouth once more, "ANYWAYS, yes, Alex took us all to one of his safe houses that he had acquired over the years before booking us all train tickets into Italy. While in Italy, we got ambushed and half of us got taken by the ambushing group and half of us got away."

"But if you got away, how'd you end up tied up here?" the Sergeant questioned.

"That's just it. We didn't get away. Alex, Sparks and X-Ray got away. We got captured by some assassin who is looking for Alex. Apparently the guy was pretty sure that Alex was alive and was actively looking for him, but there was never any proof until just recently when TEAR got sloppy and let it become known to the entire criminal world."

"Poor kid," Snake commented. He had no clue what it was like to be running from basically the entire world, but knew that it couldn't be easy. And Cub had been through so much in his short life already.

"Yea. So we got captured by the Italian Mafia, then got kidnapped by another group who attacked the Italian Mafia to get to us. And that group was led by the assassin who was nice enough to drop us off here. Though I'm not exactly sure how he knows about this place."

"Wait, what?" Scooter asked. "Explain that last part again. What's with this assassin guy? When did we end up there?"

Wolf looked at Scooter strangely, "How do you not know when you're kidnapped by an assassin?"

"Because we were never there," Texas answered. "Ben must be making some crazy stuff up. Those random guys ran into our cell, shot all of us with tranq darts and then we woke up here."

Ben shook his head, "That's what you guys know. We made a pit stop in between so that the assassin could try and figure out if I knew where Alex was and how to get to him. I convinced him that I didn't, which was true, and then he said that he was going to pay Alex a visit when he next showed up on the grid."

"But why would he just let you go?" Snake questioned.

"I'm not exactly sure, but it was something about the fact that he'd start out on Al's bad side if he held us captive and something about him liking his building standing in one piece. Probably because Alex likes to blow things up."

"He does have that tendency, doesn't he," Wolf agreed. "Getting back to the point, where's Alex now?"

"I'm sure Alex is the only one who knows. But knowing him, he's probably gotten himself into trouble and now X-Ray and Sparks are left to clean up the mess," Ben replied.

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Sparks froze and stared at the man standing before him. His vision was starting to go black around the edges from blood loss, and he knew there was no way to defeat this new enemy. He slumped against the brick wall and stared at the man.

The figure stared back and raised his gun. Sparks braced himself for the inevitable. Four shots were fired. None of which hit Sparks. Sparks jerked in surprise as the man had obviously taken out the enemy that had separated Sparks from the others in the first place. But weren't they working together?

The figure motioned for Sparks to get up. With some difficulty, the man did, feeling every beat of his heart pumping blood out of his body. He swayed dizzily and barely noticed when the figure stepped forward to help support him. Three steps after being guided to some unknown destination, Sparks passed out, collapsing against the figure who simply threw him over one shoulder and carried him to an unmarked vehicle. Sparks was promptly placed in the backseat while the figure got into the front and sped off down the road.


	10. A New Dilema

A/N: Sorry that this chapter is a little bit shorter. We're nearing the end of this story soon, and instead of doing a whole bunch of time jumps in one chapter, I've broken it up a bit. And on the off chance that this ends up to be the same length as all of my other chapters, then just realize that this was written before the chapter was and I was probably too lazy to change it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider

Chapter 9:

Sparks slowly opened his eyes, feeling the soft bed beneath him. Confused, he tried to remember what had happened and where he was. Not remembering anything past walking down the road with Alex and X-Ray, he immediately tried to roll over so as to get a better look at where exactly he was. A cry of pain forced its way passed his lips as he regretted moving. His left hand instinctively grasped his right shoulder as if it could stop the burning pain that radiated from that area. The pain was intense and Sparks couldn't figure out the reason for it as it was clouding his thoughts. He barely felt the tears leaking out of his eyes as his cry turned into a whimper. The pain had dulled slightly, but not enough for it to not be noticed.

A door nearby opened and footsteps hurried closer, but Sparks could not figure out who it might be. He almost didn't want to know. On the verge of unconsciousness, he only dimly registered the feeling of a needle sliding into his skin before he fell into the swirling black.

The figure standing above him sighed as he looked at the soldier lying unconsciously on the bed. The once stark white bandages around the man's shoulder were now turning a bright red, and the figure knew that the stitches had been torn. Sighing once more, the figure skillfully unwrapped the bandages and applied pressure to the bleeding wound. The figure then set to re-stitching the wound before injecting the soldier with the morphine that had been recently obtained. The door closed with a click as the soldier was once again left alone.

(PAGE BREAK)

Alex and X-Ray shared a look as the firing suddenly stopped after a few successive shots had been fired.

"We safe?" X-Ray questioned of his companion.

"Not quite sure. They're either waiting for us to show ourselves so that they don't waste any more ammunition, or their dead and those last shots we heard killed them."

"How do we figure out which one?"

Alex smiled at the man slyly before jumping out from behind there cover and standing fully erect in plain sight. Seconds after he did so, a large weight tackled him from behind.

Held up by his hands, X-Ray looked down at his companion that he was practically laying on top of, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Alex shook his head, "No. I was fairly certain that they were all dead or gone. And that was just the easiest way to figure out for certain."

X-Ray looked at the younger man with a worried tone that was barely concealed by his anger, "Fairly certain. Seriously. You and I and a psychiatrist are going to have a long talk someday soon. You see, there's this natural instinct that all humans have called a 'survival instinct' that keeps us from doing crazy stunts like what you just did. It seems that somewhere along the way, you lost it. And you are not leaving my sight until we find it again."

Alex just looked at the man, "For one, psychiatrists and I never get along. So your plan just isn't going to happen."

X-Ray closed his eyes and took a calming breath, "Do you mean to tell me that after all you've been through, you don't talk to ANYONE about you're missions?"

Alex adopted an innocent expression, "Nope."

X-Ray glared.

"I mean, I get debriefed after each mission, so technically I do, but I have a feeling that that's not what you're talking about," Alex continued.

X-Ray's glare only got harsher.

"Ok, so you pushed me to telling you this. You see, I kind of break the law-"

"By being an assassin on the side?"

"Well, yes," Alex acknowledged. "But also because I talk to Ben. Technically my entire life is classified by the OSA, but I break it. But don't let my employers know. They'd probably lock me up for telling state secrets."

X-Ray raised his eyebrows, "So you work as an assassin, kill people for money, and you're more worried about your employers finding out that you tell your mission details to their second best agent who would never tell a soul?"

Alex fidgeted, "I never said that my logic made sense. Excuse me for having a slightly messed up brain."

X-Ray snorted, "SLIGHTLY messed up? Try a whole lot."

It was Alex's turn to glare before looking up at the man once more, "Can you get off me now? The interrogation's over and anyone could've snuck up on us. Plus, we should figure out what happened to Sparks."

X-Ray's eyes widened as he realized that Sparks had indeed been separated from them during the firefight. He scrambled off of the kid before pulling him up off the ground as well.

"Where was he last?" Sparks questioned.

"Over behind that wall thing by the café," Alex responded.

The two cautiously made their way forward.

"X-Ray, why don't you go and check and make sure that all of the guys who were shooting at us are dead or gone? I'll check to see if Sparks is still there."

X-Ray nodded his agreement and set off towards where a few bodies haphazardly lay.

Alex watched him for a moment before stepping around the low-lying wall. He immediately noticed the still fresh blood pooled on the ground and smeared across the wall. In the same instant, his eyes registered the trail of blood that led into an alleyway and his eyes narrowed. The blood wouldn't have dripped the way it did unless Sparks had been carried. Which meant two things. First, that Sparks had been taken by someone. And second, that he wasn't dead yet. Hopefully his captor wanted him alive.

X-Ray walked over to where Alex stood and blanched at the sight of all the blood.

"Wha-"

Alex laid a hand on the man's shoulder in a comforting gesture, "He's probably still alive. Judging by the placement of the blood, I'd say he was hit on his right shoulder. And then somebody picked him up and carried him off. And based on the amount of blood he lost, I'd guess that he probably passed out, which probably led to him being carried off verses leaving by himself."

X-Ray nodded.

Alex looked back at the blood trail, "Shall we follow it and see where it leads?"


	11. A Helpful Friend and Worries

Disclaimer: I suddenly own Alex Rider! Just kidding. I wish, though Sadly, he is not mine.

Chapter 10:

_Alex laid a hand on the man's shoulder in a comforting gesture, "He's probably still alive. Judging by the placement of the blood, I'd say he was hit on his right shoulder. And then somebody picked him up and carried him off. And based on the amount of blood he lost, I'd guess that he probably passed out, which probably led to him being carried off verses leaving by himself."_

_X-Ray nodded._

_Alex looked back at the blood trail, "Shall we follow it and see where it leads?"_

X-Ray nodded and the two set off down the alleyway. The trail of blood led all the way up to the curb before disappearing from sight.

"So whoever took him got away in a car," Alex surmised.

"How are we going to find him then?" X-Ray said with a hopeless and confused expression on his face.

Gently, Alex turned to him and replied, "What we're going to do right now is go to a safe house and we're going to get some rest and some food. Understand?"

X-Ray nodded like a little kid obeying his parent and slowly turned around to where their latest mode of transportation was. A lingering glance back to where the trail of blood ended informed Alex that X-Ray wasn't happy with the decision. But X-Ray also had just lost the last member of his team-perhaps for forever- so Alex knew that he had to make the decisions for X-Ray at least for a while. Alex himself never thought clearly when he lost someone and it had yet to be discovered whether X-Ray did as well. So for the moment they'd go somewhere safe where X-Ray could easily be detained in case of any issues.

Alex nodded to himself and followed X-Ray. It was high time they got back on British soil. And then he would go after the men who had dared touch Ben. A sadistic smirk stole across his face.

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Sparks woke up once more in the same room as before. He went to roll over and see what escapes there might be, but a voice from behind him stopped him.

"Don't move. You'll tear your stitches again if you're not careful. And I'd rather not have to bandage you up AGAIN simply due to your inability to stay in one place."

Sparks frowned, "Who are you? Where am I?"

"I see you're not so British then. Could've sworn you were British SAS, especially as you were traveling with Rider. Australian?" the stranger surmised, completely ignoring Sparks' question.

Sparks nodded, "Yea. Who are you?"

"The man who saved your life by removing the bullet from your shoulder and keeping you from bleeding to death."

Sparks just groaned, "You're almost as bad as Alex! If I didn't know any better I'd have said that you were a spy. Spies are the only people who are just that annoying with all of their half-truths and never saying anything worth saying and implying everything and nothing at the same time. Ugh."

A chuckle sounded from behind Sparks, "Quite observant are you? Australian SAS then?"

"Yea," Sparks said with a sigh.

"What are you doing all the way here in France? And how are you connected to Alex?" The man slowly walked into Sparks' line of sight as he talked, apparently deciding to have the conversation face-to-face.

Sparks took a minute to study the man in front of him. He was tall with dark brown hair and cold brown eyes. Nothing in his face revealed anything thoughts or emotions, though his stance suggested that he felt comfortable and in control.

"First you're telling me who you are or at least what your…occupation…is. And how you know of Alex," Sparks demanded to the dangerous looking man standing in front of him.

Cool assessing eyes gazed at Sparks for a moment before the man nodded. "My name is unimportant. Yours may be as well. I am a retired British spy, though many would consider me more of a retired assassin. I was undercover in a terrorist organization for a number of years, like Alex's father, and I retained much of the skills I picked up during my time there. As for how I know Rider…well, you must not be very well informed if you have to ask that. The question is who DOESN'T know about Alex. Plus, I worked in the same organization as him even if I was in deep cover for a while."

Sparks nodded in understanding, "I know Alex because he stayed at our base for a few days back when he was just starting out as a teenager. I think it was like after his fifth mission? Fourth? I don't know. Somewhere in there. And he ran into a spot of trouble down in Australia and I was one of the men assigned to protecting him."

"They only assigned two men? At that rate you're more of a hindrance than a help to Rider."

"Well, there were four of us, but then a bunch of guys took Ben and my two unit mates somewhere in Italy. And I guess now there's only one seeing how you have me currently."

The man nodded slowly, "I will help you get back to England if you wish. But you must not tell anyone of our meeting or anything I've said. That is the condition for me helping you. The entire world-save a few people- think me to be dead and I'd like to keep it that way. Understand?"

Sparks agreed to the terms, knowing that it was his best shot of getting to England alive where he would hopefully reunite with Alex and the unit.

"Let's get going then," the man said and walked out of the room. "Just be careful not to tear the stitches in your shoulder. Other than that, you should be fine.

(PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK)

Ben and K-Unit were running the assault course when Texas and Scooter found them the next morning. Watching the unit for a while, it was obvious to the Aussie soldiers that Ben's spy experience caused him to be more nimble and light footed, thus giving him an advantage. He flew through the course with a high level of grace that caused him to get the best time out of K-Unit. Wolf was the best in the solely-soldier group of K-Unit. He was faster and stronger than his unit mates, though Tiger came in a close second behind him.

It didn't take long for Ben to notice them and wave the pair over.

"Hey guys, glad to see you finally woke up! What is it, like seven thirty in the morning?"

Scooter nodded at Ben, "Yea, something like that. Which means it is way too early to be waking up. Especially since we're from a totally different time zone than here."

Ben looked at him curiously, "What time do you guys have to get up for training in Australia?"

"Like five-thirty. Or four. Or something like that. Way before the sun rises. But that's only before you become an official SAS member. After you pass, then you get to get up at like 6 thirty or seven."

"So why is getting up around that time so difficult and horrible now?" Ben questioned.

"Because we're in some horrible place where it always rains and the sun never shines," Texas replied with a pout.

"You won't notice it if you try to assault course," Wolf said from behind Texas who promptly shrieked like a girl and dove for cover behind Scooter.

"Evil man!" Texas complained, slowly stepping out from behind his unit mate. "That was a downright horrible thing to do!"

Wolf smirked, "Well, if you get yourself over the assault course I may not have an opportunity to do that again."

Texas pouted before getting hit on the back of the head by Scooter. "Just go run that playground they can an assault course," Scooter commanded.

Still pouting, Texas ran off to the start and talked to Snake for a few minutes before starting the course.

Scooter sighed, "We're still trying to figure out how he passed selection. We're pretty sure he bribed the sergeant and blackmailed the government with a nuclear bomb or something because there is no other way anyone would want to let him near weaponry."

Wolf nodded, "I can attest to that. I'm pretty sure that's how Eagle got into the SAS as well. Those two are like twins separated at birth."

Ben smirked, "And this is why I joined MI6 and left the SAS. So I wouldn't have to deal with people like Texas and Eagle all of the time."

Wolf snorted, "That may be true, but at least we don't have to spend half of our lives with Cub like you do. If I hadn't seen him out in the field before I would've said that he rivaled Eagle and Texas."

Ben nodded slowly, seemingly lost in thought.

"He's ok, Fox. There's nothing in the world that could break that kid. And nothing that could kill him. He'll show up sooner or later. There's no need to worry," Wolf said to Ben, seeing the look in the man's eyes.

Ben nodded before silently heading into the trees to think. Wolf and Scooter gazed at his back until the man stepped beyond the tree line. Immediately, the shadows swallowed up his form, making it impossible for the soldiers to watch him any longer. They turned their attention back to Texas who was coming up to them, obviously out of breath.


	12. Possibilities

Chapter 11:

_"He's ok, Fox. There's nothing in the world that could break that kid. And nothing that could kill him. He'll show up sooner or later. There's no need to worry," Wolf said to Ben, seeing the look in the man's eyes._

_Ben nodded before silently heading into the trees to think. Wolf and Scooter gazed at his back until the man stepped beyond the tree line. Immediately, the shadows swallowed up his form, making it impossible for the soldiers to watch him any longer. They turned their attention back to Texas who was coming up to them, obviously out of breath._

(PAGE BREAK)

"That…was….HORRIBLE!" Texas complained once he had arrived next to them. "I am never doing that thing again!"

Wolf chucked, "There's a reason it's called an ASSAULT course. Not an obstacle course or a playground."

Texas pouted, "Even so. The constructors could've made it a lot less physically demanding."

Scooter put a hand on Texas' shoulder in a mock comforting gesture, "I'm sorry, Texas. But that would've defeated the whole purpose of the assault course."

Texas was about to respond when Snake came up to the group, "Hey, quit chatting. We've got to get to the shooting range now."

The soldiers nodded in understanding and began to head off in the direction of the range.

"Where's Fox?" Snake asked when he noticed the absence of the man.

"He headed off into the trees for some time alone to think," Wolf replied. "He's really worried about Cub and is going to blame anything that happens to the kid on himself."

"It can't be his fault," Snake commented.

"I know. That's what I keep trying to tell him, but he won't believe it. Until he sees Cub back in England safe and sound, nothing's going to keep him from feeling worried and guilty. Nothing's going to change that."

Catching up to the group in front of them, they easily slipped into the conversation about the moments they had shared with Cub. It seemed like the kid was on everyone's mind.

(PAGE BREAK)

Ben sat on the secluded rock in a hidden clearing in the woods. Several years prior Alex had brought him here. Large, dense bushes on one side and a large rock on the other hid it from view. Ben had no clue how Alex had ever managed to find it himself, but decided to just add it to the list of amazing talents that the kid had.

He knew that he was probably worrying his unit with the way he was acting, but he found that he didn't care. He had regained a son and brother just to lose him again. This time, though, he was not going to give up on him. Alex would come home again even if it meant that Ben would have to die.

(PAGE BREAK)

Sparks stepped out of the vehicle seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The man who had brought him there called out before the door shut, "Walk about a half mile down the road and you'll hit the training base. That's where you'll find Alex's unit. They'll be able to help you I'm sure. Just make sure you inform them that MI6 has a mole so that no one reports that you're in England."

Sparks nodded, "Thanks."

He shut the car door and started walking. He was grateful to the unknown person who had risked a lot to get him here. The man who was still taking risks ensuring his safety. The man himself had said that he would rather not get within four miles of the SAS training base as it would likely cause him to be spotted and then hunted. However, the man had driven within a half mile of the main gate simply because Sparks was injured and it was questionable whether he'd make it four miles.

Walking briskly, he quickly made it to the main gate where he was thoroughly questioned before being brought before the sergeant. His hands were handcuffed behind his back, but he had fully expected that. After all, when a seemingly random person shows up at a highly classified training base for elite soldiers, questions needed to be raised.

"Who are you?" were the first words out of the sergeant's mouth as he studied the man sitting handcuffed to the chair in front of him.

"I'm Sparks. I'm a part of the Australian SAS. My team was assigned to aiding Alex Rider and Ben Daniels in safely returning to England. We ran into some difficulty along the way and I was separated from Alex and one of my other team members, X-Ray."

The Sergeant nodded thoughtfully. What surprised Sparks was the fact that the man seemed to have recognized his name and, with more clarity, that he was part of the SAS unit helping Alex out.

"How did you find this place?"

"As I said, I was separated from the others and was taken captive by someone-I have no clue who. That person dropped me off here and said that Alex's unit would be able to help me find the rest of my unit and the two spies."

"You mentioned being separated from Alex, but never made any mention of the other. What happened to Ben and the other two members of your team?"

"I don't know. Shortly after entering Italy, we were ambushed by the Mafia and were split up. Ben, Scooter, and Texas got captured while X-Ray and I got away with Alex. We were unable to help them because we had to deal with Alex who was ready to get himself killed just to save them."

The sergeant stared at him for a few long moments before nodding to himself and standing up. Walking around his desk, he leaned down and unlocked the handcuffs from Sparks' wrists before leaning his head out the door and talking quietly to his secretary.

Settling back in his desk chair, the sergeant once again studied the young Aussie sitting in front of him. Sparks was gently rubbing his shoulder where the wound had been pulled while in the handcuffs.

"I've summoned K-Unit. It'll take a few minutes as they're eating dinner right now. They'll want to hear what you have to say. As you've probably noticed, we use codenames around here. Although K-Unit knows Alex's and Ben's real names, you are to refer to them as Cub and Fox respectively. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Sparks replied.

Ten minutes of near silence later brought a knock on the door.

"K-Unit, sir," a voice said through the door.

"Enter," came the gruff reply.

The door opened and K-Unit stepped in. Sparks' eyes widened in surprise when he saw who was behind the four unfamiliar soldiers. "Texas?! Scooter?!"

"Sparks?" came the reply.

Sparks stood and reached to hug Scooter before stopping with a grimace and a muffled curse.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Scooter asked with worried eyes.

Scooter grimaced once more, "I got shot in the shoulder and keep forgetting about it."

Scooter's eyes narrowed, but before he could say anything Ben broke in, "Where's Alex? And X-Ray? Has something happened to them?"

The man's eyes were filled with so much worry that Sparks immediately felt pity for the man, "I don't think so. Last time I saw them was in France. We were attacked by a group of ten or so men. I don't know who they were, but I got separated from Alex and X-Ray and ended up getting shot in the shoulder. Some random guy came along, shot the remaining men and kidnapped me. I don't know where he brought me because I passed out from blood loss before we even got to his car, but he ended up bringing me here. Said he knew Alex or something like that."

"But Alex was ok the last time you saw him?" Ben questioned.

"Yea. He was still annoyed that X-Ray and I knocked him out in order to get him safely away from the Mafia who kidnapped you guys, but he kind of got us back for that by drugging our water at one of his safe houses. Man, it's good to see you guys alive. I'll be the first to say I was worried that they had used real bullets on you guys."

Scooter and Texas grinned again, "Now all we need is X-Ray and then we can get out of this rainy, horrible place that they call a training base!"

K-Unit snorted from behind them and Sparks' face fell, "It's always like this? Oh. I was hoping today was just one of the rare rainy days."

Wolf grinned, "Nope! Anyways, we're K-Unit. I'm Wolf, that's Eagle, this is Snake, and that's Tiger. Welcome to the waiting game where we sit around waiting for Cub to pop out of thin air like he always does."

(PAGE BREAK)

At that moment, Alex was sitting in a safe house in front of a laptop as he tried to figure out the best way to smuggle himself and X-Ray into the country. It would not do to have made it so close just to get caught when they entered home soil.

X-Ray was currently sleeping in the bed across the room after Alex had drugged the man to sleep again, though this time was with the soldier's consent.

As Alex clicked on another link in the computer's database, he was brought face to face with a picture.

"Now THAT has some possibilities," he said to himself with a small smile and pulled a phone out of a nearby drawer. Yes, it was high time he was back in England.


End file.
